Old sky box - worth selling or just bin it?

Gaspode

I've updated to a new Sky HD box this week and the old box has been left here.
Are these of any use or should I just bring it to the bring centre for recycling?

muffler

I wouldnt dump it anyhow if its still in working order. You could use it in the kitchen or a bedroom to get the FTA channels from the UK. You will just need an extra cable hooked up from the sat dish and depending on age of box you might need an expired UK Sky card (costs about €5 on Adverts)

Keeping it as a spare is also an idea just to have in the unlikely event that the new box would break down at some time in the future.

Alternatively stick it up for sale on Adverts.ie - you could get up to €25 - €30 for it depending on condition.

galwayguy85

Alternately, you could easily take the hard drive out of out it and put it into an appropriate caddy. The drive type and capacity is 160gb IDE 3.5". Search YouTube for video guides and Amazon etc for the caddy etc. The drive could be put to good use with a computer or as PVR, if your TV has that function.

Speaking from personal experience, if the Skybox is the much older non-HD type in the white casing, the Skybox will continue to work just fine without a hard drive as Freesat-type receiver.

byte

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Alternately, you could easily take the hard drive out of out it and put it into an appropriate caddy. The drive type and capacity is 160gb IDE 3.5". Search YouTube for video guides and Amazon etc for the caddy etc. The drive could be put to good use with a computer or as PVR, if your TV has that function.

Speaking from personal experience, if the Skybox is the much older non-HD type in the white casing, the Skybox will continue to work just fine without a hard drive as Freesat-type receiver.

Hardly worth the bother for an old IDE drive of relatively small capacity by today's standards.

Actually, it might not even be a Sky+ box.

galwayguy85

The likelihood that it is a Sky+ type box is very strong. Only the OP can tell us for sure.

An appropriate caddy can be got for about €15 online if one shops about, or perhaps cheaper locally. The only tool required to extract the drive in a Philips-head screwdriver. Yes, 160 gigabytes, is not a life-altering amount of data storage these times but would still be worthwhile considering the fact that the Sky+ box (assuming it is one of the older types) will work OK without the internal drive.

In short, the hard drive has more potential function outside the Sky box rather than inside it.

galwayguy85

After some further research, it is the Thomson Sky+ box which one can safely (and easily) open up to remove the internal hard drive and still continue to use it to watch Freesat station afterwards.

Naturally, disconnect the box from the mains and take other normal precautions when opening the casing.

An old sky box is handy if you like radio, hook it up to your stereo and add another connection to the dish and you have all the main UK stations, handy for live footie commentary ( not blocked like internet feeds)

galwayguy85

Yes, Zorro makes a very good point. Some Irish radio stations such as Radio 1 and 2FM can also be easily tuned in and listened to via an old Sky box.

Capt'n Midnight

byte wrote: »

Hardly worth the bother for an old IDE drive of relatively small capacity by today's standards.

Actually, it might not even be a Sky+ box.

Actually the older non + boxes are more useful because they will wake up and change channel automatically for scheduled stuff.

Thing to remember though is that SKY boxes don't really power save. So turn off the old box when not using it.

Mickey Mike

I'm looking for an old sky box, they are the best.